Boys basketball: Lions tackle Tonganoxie title

In what was an intense and entertaining basketball contest, the Lansing boys’ basketball team captured its first Tonganoxie Invitational Championship since 2008 Saturday.

Behind an 18-point performance from Joe Schneider, the tournament’s most valuable player recipient, the Lions toppled Blue Valley Southwest 51-47.

“It’s only the second time we’ve won this tournament and we’ve had a lot of disappointment here in semifinal games,” Lions coach Rod Briggs said. “We overcame a lot of hurdles so it was a nice win for us against a really solid team.”

Despite the Lions never trailing, the game was very much up for grabs in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. However, Lansing hung tough to secure the victory with its late game execution.

“We executed our strategy at the end of the game very well,” Briggs said. “We fouled when were up three to put them on the line and fortunately, they missed their free throws.”